Maria Joseph traded her red and black for orange and black.

The former New Castle High girls basketball star and assistant coach took her first head coaching job for the Sharon High girls basketball team in August. Although her colors may have changed, she takes with her the same mentality she brought from New Castle.

“Hard work,” Joseph said. “You have to have a type of ability to work hard. It’s paying off for us. They’re giving everything they got out on that court.”

That hard work was seen in action last night when the Lady Tigers stopped visiting Wilmington in Region 2-AA play, 64-37.

“It’s a very big win. It’s our first game in the region,” she said. “We got after loose balls. It’s a good win for us going into Christmas vacation.”

Sharon opened a 33-24 lead at the half and never looked back. Tanjaya Sanders finished with 18 points to lead the Lady Tigers.

The Lady Greyhounds (0-1, 1-5) were held to 13 second half points. Sarah Slonaker bucketed 14 points in the losing effort.

Joseph, 26, begins her coaching career with a 3-2 overall record. She was a point guard for New Castle from 2000 to 2004, then went on to play basketball at Westminster College. She was an assistant coach for the New Castle girls team from 2005 to last season and was part of the 2009-2010 WPIAL championship team under Jason Rankin.

When Rankin left for the head boys coaching job at Sharon, Joseph was in line for the head job at New Castle. Ultimately, New Castle selected Scott Dibble leaving Joseph to choose the Sharon job.

She brought her sister, Kara Joseph, to the Lady Tigers’ coaching staff. Kara, a 2007 graduate of New Castle, played basketball for the Lady ’Canes during Maria’s first season as an assistant coach for New Castle.